Main navigation

Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline

President Obama formally rejected the Keystone XL pipeline Friday. The oil project lingered for seven years of the Obama Administration, and TransCanada Corporation, the Canadian company behind the project, had reportedly spent $2.5 billion promoting the pipeline.

“The State Department has decided that the Keystone XL Pipeline would not serve the national interest of the U.S.,” President Barack Obama said in a brief statement from the White House. “I agree with that decision.”

Mr. Obama, who has made climate change and environmental issues a centerpiece of his second term, never supported the pipeline project.

Russ Girling, president and chief executive of TransCanada Corporation, said “misplaced symbolism was chosen over merit and science. Rhetoric won out over reason,” Mr. Girling said in a statement. “Today’s decision deals a damaging blow to jobs, the economy, and the environment on both sides of the border.”

The Keystone XL pipeline would have moved as many as 830,000 barrels of oil a day, mostly from Canada’s oil sands to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would have connected with existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries. If completed, the pipeline system would have covered 1,700 miles and would have crossed six states in the United States.

Of course, there is still the chance that a Republican administration in the White House will approve the project in the future. The potential jobs that would be created are significant, in addition to adding to the energy independence of the United States.